Facebook’s Portal now lets you transform into Harry Potter characters

The Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Curtain Call experience on Portal is available in the US and UK. You can also hang out with your friends in Hogwarts Great Hall, the Ministry of Magic and the Edge of the Forbidden Forest during video calls or capture videos to share using Portal's Photo Booth app.

Portal by Facebook now lets you and up to three friends transform into characters from the award-winning play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child during Portal-to-Portal video calls.

The Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Curtain Call experience on Portal is available in the US and UK. You can also hang out with your friends in Hogwarts Great Hall, the Ministry of Magic and the Edge of the Forbidden Forest during video calls or capture videos to share using Portal's Photo Booth app.

In addition, there are 12 exclusive augmented reality (AR) masks of the most popular characters from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child available on Portal. People, who don't have a Portal device, can still interact with the AR masks via Facebook and Instagram app's camera and share video and photos via Stories, the company wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

To initiate the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Curtain Call experience:

• Tap "Curtain Call" in the effects tray on Portal
• Select one of three locations (mentioned above) from the menu to visit
• When the lights come up, each person on the call will fully embody a character from the play with a unique spell, which is assigned randomly.
• Nod your head or tap the screen to cast it

"Callers can fully embody the characters thanks to real-time skin sampling that matches the 3D character to your unique skin tone before converting it into an AR mask for seamless integration," Facebook said.

In addition to the new AR experience, Portal by Facebook is also adding new multiple-choice stories to the Story Time library. The new stories include:

• Build a Story - a classic adventure where you get to choose the hero, setting, conflict and resolution.
• Extra Ordinary Cafe - create your own multi-course meal by selecting the cuisine and each course.